NHS constitution to guarantee minimum standards of care

Patients are to be guaranteed minimum standards of care for the first time
under an NHS constitution to be unveiled next week.

Lord Darzi's aim with the year-long review of the NHS was to create a framework for accountability at national and local levelPhoto: PA

By Andrew Porter and Rebecca Smith

6:31AM BST 25 Jun 2008

The document will be published by ministers to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the health service.

It will set out the rights and responsibilities for patients and what they can expect from the NHS in the 21st century.

It is being seen by ministers as a chance to reiterate the founding principles of the health service, emphasising that care should be universal, free at the point of access and based on clinical need, not ability to pay.

Entitlements will include being able to register with a GP and not having to wait longer than 18 weeks for an operation.

It will not, however, determine what services, drugs, operations and treatments the NHS will provide. Many had hoped the constitution would free the health service from political control so that it can be run by an independent board in the same way as the BBC, but it is understood that this has been discounted.